Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Bonded By Blood: Wanted By the Crong



There's one thing about not growing up in the thrash explosion of the 80s that many fans of metal fail to realize - for every Testament or Exodus, there were five more mediocre to poor generic thrash bands in their wake.

Sure, this is a common theme among any "trend" in music (and some trends, such as nu-metal, were pretty much all bad, with atrocious bands following suit), but it seems like it is currently hitting the recent "thrash-revival," of the mid to late 2000s.

I've heard of a number of bands recently that have put out some music that might have been best left in the 80s, but the one that inspired this is Bonded By Blood.



Now, I'm not saying this song sucks. In fact, I think it's decent and you have to hand it to a modern thrash band who writes a concept album (Exiled to Earth) based off of defeating an evil overlord named Crong. The group is definitely not doing this for the money.


However, there is a point where you have to think... "hey guys, maybe this wasn't such a good idea, making this cheesy concept album and video." Make a song about Crong, then move on to other tracks.

I mean, this shit might have seemed cool back in the '80s, but there is so many problems in the world today, you think a band could find something a little more prolific to write about (or at least don't call the bad alien Crong, reminds me of Krang from the Ninja Turtles.)



As much as I am complaining, I do think there is plenty of good music coming out of the thrash revival, but bands have to realize that, like many trends, the thrash thing isn't going to last forever, and unless you are writing at the quality of Megadeth or Metallica, you probably won't be around in five or 10 years.

Bands like Shadows Fall, Lamb of God, and many others have shown they can create a new sound out of their thrash influences that isn't quite so stale.

Below I will post clips of some excellent modern thrash (that way we won't end on a negative note).

Great modern thrash bands:

Municipal Waste


Warbringer


Revocation


And if you are going for the comic-thrash route - Ireland's Gamma Bomb cannot be beat.

Gama Bomb

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